This blog was written with the help of Allison Stokoe, Courtney Liles, and Mary Clay Kline of our Nutrition Access team.
Did you know May is Food Allergy Awareness Month? Although this is annually recognized, a new Second Harvest sub-program to further aid our neighbors with dietary restrictions, stemming from our recent research developments, has made this year’s Food Allergy Awareness Month even more pertinent.
Continue reading as we talk all about this new sub-program, titled the Allergy-Friendly Pantry Initiative, and tips for how you can help — backed by the telling results of our recent community needs assessment.
Nutrition Access Program Overview
The Nutrition Access Program (NAP) aims to improve access to foods that align with our neighbors’ preferences and nourish their physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. NAP serves our neighbors through cooking classes, educational resources, community outreach, and agency partnerships.
To learn more about our Nutrition Access program, please click here.
Improving Access for Neighbors with Dietary Restrictions
Second Harvest’s Allergy-Friendly Pantry Initiative (AFPI) is a move to increase access to allergy-friendly alternatives for products commonly containing one or more of the Top 9 food allergens, which we’ll spell out further along in this blog. We are working towards at least 1 food-allergy-friendly pantry in each county within our 18-county service area.
Why AFPI?
- Dietary restrictions add stress to everyday life. Food is necessary to our survival, but it also plays a crucial role in our connections with others.
- Many staple pantry foods aren’t allergy-friendly, and simply removing unsafe foods from the selection without providing an alternative isn’t fair to our neighbors.
- A sub-program like the Allergy-Friendly Pantry Initiative is new & innovative.
- There’s a lack of existing data about how folks with dietary restrictions are being served by community food providers. The lessons we learn from launching the AFPI can be shared & make a difference far beyond East Tennessee.
“I stop[ped] being able to get food anywhere because they don’t give for dietary [restrictions].”
-Anonymous Neighbor
Defining “Dietary Restrictions”
When we say “dietary restrictions,” we’re specifically referring to these four categories:
- Food Allergies
- A food allergy is an immune system response to a trigger food that is otherwise harmless.
- Allergic reactions are serious, and can be life-threatening and lead to anaphylaxis, which needs to be treated with epinephrine.
- There are 9 “top” (or most common) allergens in the US, but someone can be allergic to literally any food.
- Food Intolerance
- Food intolerance is when the body has trouble digesting certain foods. Allergies and intolerances often get confused, but they involve very different reactions from the body.
- The symptoms of intolerance are certainly uncomfortable (cramps, bloating, nausea, diarrhea, etc.), but ultimately not life-threatening.
- Some common intolerances are lactose intolerance, which is the sugar found in milk, and gluten intolerance.
- Celiac Disease
- Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition where the body attacks the small intestine when the affected person eats gluten.
- Celiac also causes uncomfortable symptoms like an intolerance, but the autoimmune response damages the part of the intestines that absorbs nutrients from food. Over time, that lack of nutrients can take a toll and become life-threatening.
- Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, and even sometimes oats that come into contact with gluten during processing, so folks with celiac disease look for products that are certified gluten-free.
- Alpha-gal Syndrome
- Alpha-gal syndrome is a food allergy that triggers an immune response specifically to a sugar called “alpha-gal.”
- People develop alpha-gal syndrome after getting bitten by a tick. Allergic reactions to alpha-gal are usually delayed 2-8 hours after consumption. Some people do have life-threatening, anaphylactic reactions.
- Alpha-gal is found in mammals, so all red meat and products from mammals (like dairy products & gelatin) are off-limits to those affected.
These four are not preferences, but medical conditions that require specific ways of eating to prevent negative health effects. When we talk about the “Top 9” food allergens, these are the foods that cause 90% of all food allergy reactions: peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, wheat, soy, fin fish, shellfish (like shrimp, crab, & lobster), and sesame, which was more recently added to the list in 2023.
Food Labeling Laws
Understanding what foods you can eat with dietary restrictions can be daunting.
The Food Allergen Labeling & Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) and the FASTER Act require that all packaged food containing the Top 9 allergens be labeled in plain language, that is, using their common name. Those common names can be part of the whole ingredients list, in parentheses, or in a separate “Contains:” list.
Sometimes you’ll see statements like these — “manufactured in a facility that also processes …” or “may contain traces of…” — it’s important to know that these are voluntary, and manufacturers do not have to include them on food labels. So, just because a product doesn’t have a “may contain” warning doesn’t mean it’s necessarily free from an allergen.
When it comes to gluten, the FDA says that foods with less than 20 parts per million of gluten can be labeled “gluten-free.” You may see the Gluten-Free Certification Organization logo, certifications from other groups, or just plain text stating “gluten-free.”
Alpha-gal is not required by law to be labeled, but the number of peoplewith alpha-gal syndrome is growing. There’s proposed legislation that would add alpha-gal to a list of the “Top 10” allergens & require labeling, since it’s now the 10th most common food allergy reaction.
The above provides us with insight into how time-consuming and draining it can be for folks to find foods that are safe for them to eat.
Quick Stats
Before we talk about the Allergy-Friendly Pantry Initiative itself, here are some quick stats that underscore why a program like this is needed.
- 33 million Americans have food allergies, and that includes 5.6 million children.
- The CDC reports that there was a 50% increase in food allergies among children between 1997-2011.
- One study found that 21% of children with food allergies live in households with low food security.
- Additionally, it’s estimated that 1 in 6 people with celiac disease experience food insecurity and likely can’t access the gluten-free foods they need.
- Specialty foods come with inflated costs — another study found that special diets and allergen-free foods cost US families an additional $1.7 billion annually.
- Studies plus anecdotal evidence suggest that many people with dietary restrictions will opt out of receiving food assistance because they either aren’t getting what they need, or simply believe that they won’t.
Key Partners of the Allergy-Friendly Pantry Initiative
We want to acknowledge some of our past, present, and future collaborators, who are helping bring this sub-program to life.
- FARE, which stands for Food Allergy Research & Education, is the largest advocacy group for people with food allergies.
- FOODiversity,a non-profit based in North Carolina, are already working to increase access to allergy-friendly and gluten-free foods for people experiencing food insecurity. They’ve been kind enough to share resources & connect us with other advocacy organizations, from whom we hope to continue learning in the future.
- We were also fortunate to have the help of Bethany Brinkley, a master’s student from the UT Baker School of Public Policy, who spearheaded our data analysis.
- Other departments at Second Harvest, such as our Agency Relations team, are key parts of this sub-program as we work to procure specialty foods & keep our Partner Agencies updated.
- We could not do what we do without the 670+ Partner Agencies within our 18-county service area, including the launch of the AFPI.
The Road so far
- The idea for the Allergy-Friendly Pantry Initiative was first born in April of 2024.
- Research about other food banks that have allergy-friendly programs led to the discovery that there wasn’t a lot of information out there, especially not from food banks serving a region comparable to ours in size.
- Based on existing questionnaires from FOODiversity, we conducted a community needs assessment by surveying both our neighbors and partner pantries to figure out what our neighbors need, as well as what our partner pantries already have.
- Now, we’re deciding what foods we’re going to procure, and where we can put our pilot sub-program into action.
Findings from our Community Needs Assessment
The results of our community needs assessment came from 20 partner pantries, as well as 61 households of our neighbors. Most of the responses came from Knox County, but we did get responses from the majority of the East Tennessee counties we serve.
In the surveyed households, the majority of people with dietary restrictions are adults, but 25% are children ages 0-17. 67% of households surveyed showed signs of experiencing low or very low food security, and 41% had visited a food pantry in the last year.
The top three issues identified by our neighbors in the survey were:
- The cost of foods that meet their dietary needs
- Community food providers are not stocking foods that meet their dietary needs.
- Locating foods that meet their dietary needs within grocery stores, as well as community food providers
61% of neighbors said they were troubled by the need to spend extra time preparing safe meals. That is, the extra time reading food labels and researching products, grocery shopping (perhaps having to go to multiple stores), or preparing additional meals.
However, 93% of neighbors said they had moderate to very high confidence in their ability to tell if a food aligns with their or their household’s dietary needs. That tells us that if we can provide allergy-friendly options, our neighbors will be able to identify them.
Looking at the pantry experience, we are thrilled to report that 75% of the pantries we surveyed offer full or partial client-choice to neighbors. We know that client-choice is wonderful because it allows our neighbors to pick foods that meet their needs, but it can only work if the foods they need are available, hence the AFPI.
A Difference in Perception
When asked about confidence, 80% of pantries said they were confident they could safely serve a neighbor with allergies of one of the Top 9.
However, only 24% of neighbors, whether they had visited a pantry recently or not, said they were confident they would be able to find & receive enough safe foods from a community food provider.
We believe we can move the needle here by making those safe foods accessible and loudly publicizing it, so we can combat that perception and raise confidence.
As far as what foods our neighbors are requesting, the most needed shelf-stable “free from” foods are wheat- or gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut-free. Many of the neighbors surveyed said that they have more than one dietary restriction, so foods that are free from multiple or all of the Top 9 allergens are needed too.
Key Takeaways
- There is a need for allergy-friendly foods in our service area. Even though we were only actively advertising the survey for about 3 weeks, 61 neighbors responded, with many showing signs of experiencing food insecurity in addition to having dietary restrictions.
- The client-choice pantry model will allow our neighbors to choose foods that fit for them, but there needs to be allergy-friendly alternatives to pantry staples, so some neighbors aren’t getting less than others.
- Wheat/gluten-free, milk/dairy-free, and nut-free substitutions are needed most, so this is where we will focus our product procurement.
- Kid-friendly options and products that are free from multiple allergens are needed.
- Our neighbors’ perceptions that there aren’t going to be any options for their dietary needs can be a barrier to access.
- 10 pantries serving 7 different counties have already expressed their interest in being an Allergy-Friendly Pantry Initiative pilot site.
How can YOU help the Allergy-Friendly Pantry Initiative?
This May, consider hosting an allergy-friendly food drive for Food Allergy Awareness Month! Here are some allergy-friendly donations you can ask for:
- Sunflower butter
- Gluten-free pasta
- Gluten- & nut-free flour
- Shelf-stable milk alternatives
- Top 9 allergen-free snacks
- Gluten-free cereal
- Any other allergy-friendly products
With Second Harvest’s buying power of $1 = 3 meals, making a financial donation designated to the Allergy-Friendly Pantry Initiative would also be an incredibly effective way to support the program, so that we may purchase more allergy-friendly foods to stock our partner pantries for our neighbors.
To start an allergy-friendly food drive, please click here.
To designate a financial gift to the AFPI, please click here, check the “designate this gift towards…” box, and type in “Allergy-Friendly Pantry Initiative.”
For a full presentation on our Allergy-Friendly Pantry Initiative, please click here.